Sunday, August 18, 2013

Mid-Summer Madness!

July began with frequent trips to Corvette Spa as
Curt gradually brought the broken Corvette back to life. After stripping the
rear end back to the frame, the damage I had caused from backing into the wall
at Infineon race track proved superficial. From my perspective, hovering over
Curt’s shoulder, it was ample proof, once again, that in choosing the C5 Z06
Corvette as our track car, we had opted for a “package” that was less costly to
maintain. Pictured above is the Vette, mufflers dangling beneath the bodywork,
as the last of the fillers are sandpapered smooth prior to a new coating of
“Torch Red” paint being applied. The C6 Z51 Coupe, supercharged and all, had
provided many memorable moments but it had also seriously damaged the family
savings.

Would our good fortune hold up for the entire month? Would July deliver on the
promise of summer and delight us all, or would it see return visits to Corvette
Spa? Perhaps more worrisome still was that as I looked at the calendar, July was
just back-to-back activities with few days open for supervising repairs. Of
course, the family looks forward to a fun weekend each July as our club,
National Auto Sports Association (NASA), takes over the High Plains Raceway
(HPR) track outside Byers, Colorado, and when combined with a Friday open
lapping day, gives us the opportunity to use up all the tires, burn through the
last of the brake pads and leave with every fluid overheated, the red Vette
just crackling and popping as the heat of the car dissipates.

July along the front ranges is always very hot and there’s every possibility
that afternoon thunderstorms will develop, interfering with any evening plans
under consideration. For our weekend at the track we would be taking the
company command center as we would be entertaining business colleagues flying
in from California. Brian and Jan Kenny have become part of the family these
days, but it’s Brian’s business acumen I have to value the most – Brian may be
in construction, but like me, as a contract wraps-up and the deliverables all
approved, it’s a case of working the phones to find additional business
opportunities.

However, before we headed back to HPR there was the
July 4th weekend trip to Minnesota that needed to be undertaken. The
first with our new granddaughter, and her parents. To say I was apprehensive
was an understatement as I had committed to clients to complete a number of
opinion papers and it would be challenging to work around the “approved family
schedules” I would encounter. In truth, with the distances involved, it would
be more like the July 4th week as we would be driving two days to
and from Minnesota, and the lakeside log cabin of our son-in-laws’ parents. For
all involved this was going to be a learning exercise as we had never driven
such distances with passengers before or had our family attempted camping like
this. It would be a great test of our humility and patience.

In her post of a few weeks ago, Family
vacations with grownup kids? Margo provided plenty of insight about how it
all turned out so I will not retell the story. The upside was that with the RV
set up as it is now, I was able to continue to work from the road – an
objective or ours from the first time we took the RV on the road – and the
inconveniences of close quarter living didn’t turn out quite as dreadful as I
had initially thought. That’s not to say there weren’t times when all parties
questioned the sanity of travelling like this and for those who thought it
would be a vacation, well, air travel looks a lot better with this adventure
behind us. From the picture above, it’s easy to see that I did find a few times
where I could just sit down, look at the lake, and take it easy and for that, I
am extremely thankful to all who did give me just a little space to chill!

On the other hand, don’t let anyone – particularly family – tell you that times
spent alongside the marshes that skirt the lakes of Minnesota aren’t without
its downside. Critters of every size inhabit the reeds and these denizens of
the lake include everything from annoying Mayflies and Mosquitos to turtles,
loons, and stalking cranes each trying to outdo the other in the ways that can
annoy you. Whether it’s the pesky Mossi’s stings or the quacking of the crazy
loons, the background hubbub was a constant presence, 24 X 7. Then again, high
in the trees alongside the lake, there were American Bald Eagles nesting and
their occasional majestic flights overhead were magical to witness.

With 2,000 plus miles covered in just the first week
of July, the miles I really wanted to do were atHPR and so, only the day after
returning from Minnesota, we welcomed the Kenny’s. Re-reading my previous post,
Getting
much needed seat time – but will it be enough? it occurred to me that I may
have inadvertently “put the mockers on” Brian. Readers may recall how I made
the comparison between HPR’s prairie corkscrew and it’s more famous bigger
brother, THE corkscrew at Laguna Seca. While we were by the lakes, Brian was on
track at Laguna Seca participating in a joint Northern California – Southern
California NASA event. Limited to racers only, drivers in HPDE4 / Time Trials
were permitted to participate and Brian had worked hard, only a few weeks
earlier, to graduate to this level, the highest attainable in the NASA HPDE
program. Brian also had to get his red C6 Coupe Corvette checked out and
certified to participate – a much more complex procedure than the “Tech
Inspect” we had been used to in previous outings with NASA.

Laying down a couple of blistering times that easily moved him to the top of
his group, Brian slammed into the concrete barriers protecting the pits as he
exited Laguna Seca’s turn 11 – the last turn before coming onto the main
straight and the location of the start / finish line. The impact was so severe
that it pulled out the red flag effectively ending the session for all
involved. Apart from a few aches and pains (that still persist), Brian suffered
few aftereffects but it was a big hit all the same. Sharing commiserations of
our almost back-to-back infringements with the walls of famous tracks, Infineon
and Laguna Seca, had never been part of the plan but here it was, the much
anticipated HPR weekend and the Kenny’s were without the Vette.

Not to worry, Margo and I informed them. We have more than one car in the
garage so how about the Viper? At first, I thought about letting them both
drive our Vette while we drove the Viper but previous outings by Jan and Brian two
years earlier clearly demonstrated their liking for “the snake” – so Margo and
I would continue with the Vette. And no, it took little extra convincing on our
parts that this would be a wonderful alternate plan as they looked, a little
worried of course, at the healing process their own Vette would be going through
in the weeks to come. As the photo above captures, the thunderstorms did come
late Friday afternoon and the downpour was torrential. I was just about to fire
up the BBQ when it hit us hard but after it passed, there was ample time to
relax with a traditional trackside martini!

As for our time on track it followed the usual pattern for our weekends at HPR.
Friday saw both families sharing their respective cars as all parties worked on
the seat time. He track throws many challenges at you all of which are well
known to us and yet, each time we visit the track, it takes more than just one
session to become reacquainted with all of its nuances. In time, brake points
recede a little as we all tried not to over-brake and the never-ending torque
from both cars allowed us to cut back on gear changes that, at times, only
succeeded in unsettling the cars. Watching Brian from turn one, late Saturday, I
caught a glimpse of him attacking other cars while in the Viper and the way he
went about dispatching them was fun to see – clearly, no evidence of any
hesitancy on Brian’s part following the incidents at Laguna Seca just the week
before this outing.

The weekend at HPR was eventful for one reason. After participating at NASA events with the Rocky Mountain region, I finally passed evaluation to participate in HPDE Group 3 – the group just below HPDE4 / Time Trials. I had already been participating in HPDE3 events of NASA in Southern and Northern California but I had made a mess of earlier opportunities with the Rocky Mountain club and it took me two years to recover. The instructors involved, fortunately, were extremely kind hearted and gracious (even as I had to learn humility in face of my own stupidity), and coming off the track that final time, with approval to run with HPDE3, I tore into the command center and in my broadest Aussie accent, I informed Margo of how, “I was a three!” Without even blinking, she simply responded, in her best Polish accent, “so what, I’m a bush!”

We are not the only folks on track in July as the Kenny’s were anxiously tracking the results of their grandson, Colton Herta. To suggest he is a phenomena or a gifted natural is too early an assessment to be making, however the early signs are that he is way, way, past the skills either Brian or myself possess. Graduating into open wheel racecars at just 13 and campaigning in both the F1600 where, at last count, he has won six of eight events as well as the Skip Barber program. Even as I wrap up this post, news comes from Lime Rock Park of how Colton, running in the Skip Barber program, came away with a second on Friday followed by a first on Saturday!

In both contests Colton he is up against drivers much older than him with a lot more experience. The photo above was taken of Colton in the team garage, on scales, as the engineers work on fine-tuning the setup looking for that little extra something that will translate into a wining advantage. However, it was this latest outing at Buttonwillow that may prove to be a significant tipping point in Colton's career as he made it into a “best upcoming youngsters” segment in the nationally televised program on Speed TV, Wind Tunnel. A small video clip was played for viewers and you can check it out for yourselves by following this link, dubbed The Pass.

Watching the video clip it’s not hard to imagine how the nickname of the “little assassin” came about – the two cars he passed after waiting for a mistake by one of them, was to move him into the second place. You do get a brief glimpse of the leader at one point in the video but it didn’t take Colton long before he caught him and then passed him on the last corner before the start-finish line even as the white flag came out, signifying one lap to go. Taking the lead this late into a race has become a well-known trait of Colton’s dating back to his days in karting.

This winning pass can be seen in
the clip, I call The Exhale (see above, inline). Pretty much everyone watching is now
growing accustomed to Colton winning and yet, so many breaths were being held as Colton
approached that final turn. Yet it was inevitable. He passed, he won, and
everyone exhaled. Colton didn't win every race this weekend but overall, his winning percentage at this stage in his career is outstanding. (The videos came to me courtesy of Brian and Jan.) Once again, and somewhat surprisingly given his commitments to formula racing, Colton expressed an interest in participating at
this year’s SuperNationals karting event to be held in Las Vegas in November, but
needed a little sponsorship help so Pyalla technologies “Track Days” was very
pleased to help out. The story will continue I am sure of it!

Minnesota! HPR, Byers! Moreover, the month was
only partially behind us but more was to follow. Readers may recall how Margo
had written in her post of June 2, 2013, Clubs
that Accept Me as a Member about our participation in an event organized by
the Rocky Mountain Maserati Club. When it had come time to drive a fun-filled
three-stage rally, we came dead last by miles. More than 200 miles, as I
recall. Joining the club once again for another fun-filled rally seemed too
hard to pass up on, so we registered for a weekend gathering that would test
our rally skills yet again. The event would take us to the mining town of Leadville,
Colorado, where we would overnight in a restored hotel, heavy with the
atmosphere of years past. The Delaware Hotel was more of a period piece than
what you would expect from a hotel with every single piece of furniture
available for purchase.

Across the street was the Manhattan Bar.
Extremely fortuitous as after a hard day behind the wheel, trying our hardest
to solve riddles and name sites, we came last, again. Fortunately, this time it
wasn’t by 200 miles and in fact, we tied for last with folks in a glorious
Maserati Marek SS. Definitely nothing to be ashamed about and the opportunity
to be that close to something very famous more than made up for our own
misfortune. After taking an RV to Minnesota, then being on track in the
Corvette, it made perfect sense to us to seek out a little downtime behind the
wheel of a “grand tourer”, savoring the sites at a much more leisurely pace and
without the interruptions family life so often produces.

Was so much time spent on the road confirmation of true summer madness? Did the
time behind the wheel more than compensate for the other distractions of the
month? July proved to be a crazy time for us, no doubt, but looking at the
calendar for August (and indeed, September) it only looks to be getting worse, not
better! However, the Vette is in one piece and very straight. No damage done,
this month, with tires and brakes in good shape and capable of supporting a few
more outings. The regular touring cars are all looking good (we do need to
drive the Viper somewhere far away) and the RV remains a delightful way to move
between points A and B even if it does mean we are “on business”. Ahhh, I love
the smell of high octane gas burning early in the morning as the sun makes its
first appearance above the horizon. We may indeed be crazy, but if that’s the
case, leave us be. There’s still so much more to enjoy – out there, on the
highways and back-roads of America!